We were at my friend Leslie’s wedding when we heard the news via Twitter and NHL Network. The Los Angeles Kings had won in OT against the Vancouver Canucks! Thanks to Jarett Stoll and his beautiful goal the Kings will advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It has been far too long since the Kings made it past the first round. Needless to say, Shaun and I were thrilled and it added to the already wonderful night we were having.
As the evening at the wedding wore down, we took off and headed home. Shaun had to work the following morning and wanted to get to bed. However, as we drove home we started to recieve tweets from Bailey, the Kings mascot, about heading to the airport to greet the Kings as they landed at LAX. Shaun and I barely had to think twice. Luckily Grandma Zoe was willing to stay the night, so we headed home, quickly changed clothes and then headed down to LAX.
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| Fans wait for the Kings to land at LAX |
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| Even though its late, Shaun and I are happy to be at LAX to welcome home our team. |
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| Bailey making his rounds, heckling the airport police and getting the crowd even more excited then it already was before the team landed. |
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| Very excited to get a picture with Bailey. Abby loves seeing him so I know she will love this picture. |
The crowd was pretty big considering the time and the location. It was very impromptu so even the airport police were overwhelmed. The next thing we knew police cars with K-9 units began to arrive. Like everyone around us kept saying… “Geez, you would think we were Lakers fans”. The police were ok with us once they realized that we weren’t there to cause trouble. When the plane landed, the players headed to their cars and drove past a long line of excited fans. Most waved and smiled as they made their way through the crowd. Former players and staff members like Bernie Nichols stopped and gave high fives and shook hands with fans. While no one stopped for pictures or autographs, the smiles on their faces showed us how they appreciated the support. It was a fun night and it was great to be a part of Kings history.
The video below, shows a bit from that night. You can see us twice! Very cool if you ask me. Now that Vancouver is out the Kings move on to Round 2 to play the St. Louis Blues. Cant wait to see how this Round turns out. Hopefully it will mean the Kings move on to the Western Conference Finals, but only time will tell!
http://nhl.cdn.neulion.net/u/videocenter/embed.swf
The Wharton Adventures 